New Year's Day

I have a special message planned for New Year's Day, 2012. I know that many people may not be at church on Sunday because Saturday is traditionally a late night. But there are some people who have made up their minds not to make Sunday church optional and for the committed and faithful I have a message. I am excited about this Sunday!

By the way, there will not be coffee ministry this Sunday due to some of our food supply vendors being closed for the holiday.

Christmas by John

This week I have been struck by the Christmas story in the gospel of John. Mark only mentions a little of John the Baptist ministry. Matthew gives a genealogy back to Abraham to introduce Jesus. Luke gives a genealogy back to Adam and a full description of John the Baptists birth. John however, goes even further back!

For a lot of people, the idea of Jesus being born as a baby means the same as it does for us at our birth. At conception we began to exist and at birth we emerged onto the scene of this world. But for Jesus, his conception by the Holy Spirit and his birth that followed, this was not his beginning. John says that the Son of God was present at the creation of the world and that the world was not created without his involvement!

Jesus existed long before the creation of the heavens and the earth. Jesus was not created by the Father or the Holy Spirit. The Son of God was not created in Mary's womb, but he has existed eternally. The Bible even says that the decision to have the Son of God enter the creation and die for the sins of mankind was made before the creation of the earth.

When we think about the Christmas story (the nativity or advent) in John, we are reminded of how great and powerful a treasure was encased in that tiny helpless baby in Bethlehem's manger. The eternal, all powerful, ever living, Son of God, set aside his glory and became one of us, his creation, to save us.

Christmas Celebrations!

We will be celebrating Christmas on Christmas Eve starting at 5:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve. It will be a short service for the whole family.

On Christmas Day we have a special treat! An opportunity to worship in our Sunday services on Christmas day. We will have regular service times at 8:30 and 10:15. I will also be striving to keep the services short so that people can get to family gatherings on Christmas Day.

Short Busy Week

This week is going to be very short and busy. I took a personal day Monday to be with my brother Steve and his wife Mindy. Today I am taking my wife to an appointment in St. Louis that may require me to drive home so I have to take more time off to take good care of her.

The busy side of work is that our church secretary is off recovering from an outpatient procedure and Steph, the Pastor's Secretary may be out the rest of Tuesday. Pastor John is working on the Christmas Food baskets. I am working on the bulletin, and the new church management software that we started last week. I also need to make several trips to some stores. Our answering machine died last week, and we are out of church supplies in several areas. Usually we have other staff that make these purchases.

It will be a week of running!

Love from God

It is now 9:00 a.m. on Thursday morning. As I drove into work at 7:45 today, I was thinking about how much God loves each individual person. No matter how much you struggle with kowing God and how much you wrestle with temptation, God loves you!

Often people fall into the trap of feeling worthless. It can come from the words of people who tear us down. It can come from our own judgement of ourselves. We may also feel wothless when the devil discourages us by pointing out all our failures. When you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God loves you, you gain confidence, security, and a feeling of worth that can not be taken away from you.

Today my desire is that you know, not just have a feeling, but really know, that God loves you!

Christmas Eve Service

Today I am announcing our Christmas Eve Service. The celebration starts at 5:30 p.m. at church. The service will not be long, we want you to be able to enjoy time with family as well as celebrate the birth of our savior Jesus Christ. As we put together more details I will post them.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I love Thanksgiving. I love that it may be snowing, or it may be warm enough for football in the yard. I love that it is a holiday that falls in hunting season! Mostly, I love how it prepares us for Christmas.

Imagine if the two holidays were switched. What if we went through all the negative materialistic elements of modern Christmas celebrations and then did Thanksgiving? I think Thanksgiving would be completely spoiled! I think there is a real blessing that Thanksgiving is before Christmas.
I think it is great that about four weeks before Christmas and at least one day before the Christmas shopping insanity of our culture begins, we stop to give thanks. Thanking God, not for all the gifts and parties and food, but for the things that God has given us throughout the year.

Let's be careful not to let Christmas overpower Thanksgiving. The big box stores are all in Christmas mode and have forgotten Thanksgiving. They go straight from the ghouls, ghosts, and goblins of Halloween, to Santa and Elves. They can do without Christ in Christmas and they do without Thanksgiving completely. Don't miss Thanksgiving and don't forget to give God and special people in your life thanks. I want to be different, so I say with excitement and hope, "Happy Thanksgiving!"

Who's On First

Sunday the message was about stress and worry, mostly about stress. I believe that the antidote to stress can be summed up with one prescription. Seek FIRST his kingdom and his righteousness (Matt. 6:33 emphasis mine).

When you are stressed out on the interstate in gridlock traffic, are you seeking him, or allowing yourself to be stressed? When you think about your house and your bills, are you seeking him and thanking him for provision, or are you worried about what you don't have?

When I strive, covet, and worry about the stuff of my life, it takes over my thinking, meditation and prayer time. When those things use up my prayer time, I am wasting time that could be spent seeking God through Jesus Christ! When those things take up my day, I am wasting time that could be spent working for God and my own progress, witnessing to a friend, or simply enjoying God's presence in my daily routine.

If you are stressed, my question to you is, "What are you seeking most in life?" Test yourself on this! Don't just give yourself a Sunday morning answer and a pat on the back! Look over your schedule. Did you spend more time on Facebook or shopping this week than you did seeking the Lord? Are you using up your entire day with work, entertainment and social stuff and running out of time for God?

Maybe we are so stressed today because we are running after the wrong things first.

The Glory of the Lord

In the first service Sunday, the presence of God's Holy Spirit was amazing. It has been two days and I still keep thinking about it. Some people think that if a church has lights and a hard rock worship style that the glory of the Lord must not be present. Many assume that a lighting system forces us to be so choreographed that we can not follow the moving of the Spirit. Well, it is just not true. We have an awesome time of worship and we allow the Spirit of God to move!

What I am praying for more and more, is that we experience the glory of the Lord. To quote our evangelist at Fire Fall, there are levels in the presence of God that we have not entered into yet. The key word is YET!

Back From the Woods

I am back from deer hunting. I did not get a deer. First season for me to strike out in about twelve years. However, the best thing is that Ben, my son, got his first deer while hunting together last Saturday on his 9th birthday. It was really great!

I may have some other opportunites to hunt later this year, so I am not done yet.

Deer Hunting

Most of you know that I go deer hunting each year to get away, gather meat, and take vacation. This year I will be gone from the 12th to the 19th. Last week, I took Ben on the youth hunt. We had no luck. But, we will have more chances next week.

While you pray for your pastor, pray for rest, rejuvination, and hunting success quick so that I can relax.

40

Today I turn 40.

Worship Night!

That was the best yet!

We have improved on worship night! First we made worship night longer. Second, we added an extra way for people to participate. Last and most importantly, I think we are listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit better. We may not be perfect, but we are better! We had some great worship, great celebration, great prayer for needs, and great quiet moments as well.

I am very excited about 2012. I am looking forward to getting two worship nights on the calendar next year. I am also excited about how God may help us improve our ability to hear his voice.

Fire Fall

Fire Fall started Sunday. I can't say enough about the quality of ministry from the Wall sisters and Aaron Snell. Their story of overcoming grief and loss was right on time for many people at church. One woman in our church bought their book and had read the entire book by 6:30 when worship night started. If you have been through a great loss in life remember a few things that were highlighted to us yesterday.

1. God is for you, not against you.
2. God is the best and most important companion you need.
3. God is your father forever.
4. God gives beauty for ashes, joy for tears.

Be Blessed.

What's Happening?

There is a lot happening in the next few weeks.

October 30th is Celebration Sunday

Saturday October 29th - Prayer at 6:00 p.m.

Sunday October 30th - Breakfast at 8:30 and Worship at 10:00 a.m.

November 6th - Special Guests

Heather Gillon, author of Dancing On My Ashes and her sister Holly Snell. These ladies have a great testimony to share!

November 6th - Worship night at 6:30 p.m.

November 7th through 9th - FIRE FALL

Evangelist Daniel Tidmore will be speaking each night! Daniel is the staff evangelist of Grace Community Church in Salem. Check him out on their staff page.